Driving back home was probably one of the most nerve racking things Theo had ever done. It was definitely up there with that same anxiety he got before every match as soon as he walked onto the pitch, along with the nerves the night of when he anticipated talking to Naomi, when he first confessed his feelings for her in his room.
Looking back on that night Theo couldn't help but shake his head smiling at his shitty speech telling her that he liked her, with how bad he was at communicating. How he used his lips instead, turning it into an argument.
But as soon as he dwelled on it for a moment longer, his smile dropped, turning into a frown at the realisation it was probably so bad because of his lack of warmth and openness with his family. They were almost the downfall of him and Naomi before they when started all because he had to learn from scratch, whilst with Naomi, how to open up and talk about his feelings the correct way.
Although, he did feel more at ease knowing that Naomi was learning and maturing at the same time as him because she too, struggled to open up, not because of her family but because of her past with her ex - and Theo accepted that, working with her to be better for each other.
Pulling up to his childhood home, Theo couldn't help but grimace at the fact that the saying 'money buys happiness' was believed by so many, but in reality it wasn't. It wasn't entirely money which was the cause of his family's lack of affection and relationship, but it definitely had some contributing factors.
Sitting in the car for a moment, Theo took a deep breath to calm himself down. He looked at the driveway and noticed his sister's car and felt more at ease knowing that she wasn't going to let him walk into that house alone.
Getting out his phone Theo texted Naomi.
Theo - Just got home, you can stop worrying now
Naomi - I wasn't worrying, but thank you for letting me know
Naomi - I miss you x
Theo - Miss you too baby x
Theo - A week maximum, okay?
Naomi - okay
Locking his phone, Theo noticed his sister coming out of the house, walking straight over to his car, obviously watching from her room, anticipating his arrival.
"Theo" she smiled as she watched him step out of the car
"Wait am I getting nice Stass or mum Stass?" He asked
"Ugh, shhh and come inside already I'm fucking freezing, oh and mum's home" she mentioned as the two of them walked up the driveway
"She is?" Theo asked, surprised that his mother actually took time off from being a nurse
"Yeah...I got back this morning and I've only seen her. She decided to take the day off since we both came back but I don't know about dad" she explained
"Doesn't fucking surprise me" he grumbled, already having his mood dampen at the mention of his father.
Walking into the house, Theo wasn't surprised by the lack of change over the years. The same welcoming family home, that so many in the neighbourhood were jealous of.
"Where is she?" He asked
"Kitchen I think" Stass suggested as she led the way
She was right. And there she was. His mother. Theo couldn't ever be annoyed at his mother. She was an amazing woman who worked extremely hard, but just made one bad decision which messed up her life. That bad decision being marrying his father.
"Mum" Theo smiled, having his hands in his pockets nervously as he watched her standing infront of the fridge looking for something
At the sound of her name, Aurora turned around. "My darling boy" she beamed, closing the fridge door and reaching over the countertop to take Theo's hand.
Without any hesitation Theo placed his hand in his mother's, smiling at her.
"I'm not going to hug you because I know you hate them but I'm so happy to see you" She smiled
"Well it wasn't like I had much of a choice in coming home" he muttered not missing the falter in his mother's smile
"I know, but you didn't come home for Christmas and I barely saw you over summer" she mumbled, frowning at her son who she felt like she barely even knew anymore
"But enough of that...How are you, how's university?" She asked, wanting to get as much out of him in a good mood
"I-uh, uni is good, passing everything but...I met someone mum" he mentioned, wanting to tell her about Naomi ever since Naomi asked him during their smoking game if his parents knew about her.
"Wait did I just hear that correctly Theo?" Auoura gasped
"Yeah, her name is Naomi" he admitted sheepishly
"Theo's got a girlfriend, Theo's gotta girlfriend" Stass sung teasingly as bit into a banana she'd grabbed from the fruit bowl, sitting down at the countertop
"She's not my girlfriend, yet and can we not have this conversation I don't need Stass making fun of me" Theo mumbled cutting his eye at his older sister who was acting like a child
"Anastasia stop bothering your brother" Aurora told Stass.
She couldn't help but laugh at her two children, finally feeling like they were a loving family for once, "But I'm happy you've found someone mio caro" (my dear) she squeezed Theo's hand reassuringly, "Genuinely, I hope you end up with this girl and she makes you happy"
"She does mum, she really does make me happy" Theo smiled as Stass stuck her tongue out making a gagging noise
"Good, now tell me all about her whilst you help me cook dinner" Aurora told him, wanting to know everything about the first girl Theo had ever told her about
Theo watched how his mother turned around quickly, going to the kitchen cupboards to get whatever she needed ready to start to cook, but he couldn't help but stare. He couldn't help but stare because he noticed how every time she opened up a cupboard, she'd get frustrated as if she didn't even know the way around her own kitchen.
"Mum, how about I cook us something?" Theo offered, glancing over at Stass who also looked worried at their mother's lack of knowledge of the kitchen, when she used to love cooking for them as children
"Would you?" She asked
"Of course" Theo smiled, as Stass guided her to sit down, both of them now fully understanding how much time she didn't spend at the house anymore, all to avoid their father.
How Aurora would throw herself into her work because she enjoyed helping people at the hospital, as it was constantly busy and now since both her children had left the home, she was stuck in an empty house when she did come back, so most of her nights were spent sleeping in the on-call rooms, taking as many shifts as she possibly could.
"How about arancini?" Theo offered, knowing that was one of his mother's favourite Italian dishes
"Oh-" Auoura smiled brightly at the idea, until it faded, "...Your father doesn't like Italian dishes remember?"
Theo sighed with frustration at the first piece of new found information about his father that irked him.
Doesn't like Italian food and yet he married an Italian woman and has half Italian children, how the hell does that make sense?
Anastasia noticed Theo attempting to calm himself down at the mention of their father, "But is he coming home tonight? If he isn't then we should just make it"
"Oh I don't know? He always likes me to leave him leftovers in the fridge"
"Then we get him some takeaway and claim we had that"
"He doesn't like me eating takeaway" Aurora whispered
Jesus Christ, I knew dad brainwashed her years ago, but I never realised it had gotten this bad.
"Mum we'll say it was our idea if he asks okay?" Stass offered
"Okay, thank you cocca (sweetie)" she nodded at Anastasia, wondering how she got such wonderful children
Yes, to anyone who rally saw the family's dynamic just by the mention of the siblings' father, you'd believe he was abusive, but he wasn't...Well at least not physically.
Theo knew this because not once had his father ever raised his hand to him despite how much the two of them did not get along. He also asked Stass if he ever did, and she truthfully admitted he never did and as for his mother, Aurora, there was no way, especially with her promising Theo that she'd never let him raise a hand to her. Theo even used to look at her arms and legs just to check there were no bruises and surprisingly there wasn't.
But he also knew his mother, despite her very much weakened and shattered self esteem due to his father, if he dared do anything like that, she'd leave that moment, she'd go back to her parents and stay there until she got back on her feet.
"How long are you here for Theodore?" Aurora asked as she watched him wash the rice
"A week" he stated, knowing that a week was pushing it, but knowing his father he wouldn't see him until the very last day
"Okay well I'm happy to have you back for a week, what about you Anastasia?"
"I'm not staying here mamma, but I'll be back everyday you're not working within this week" (mum) Stass told her
"Well I've booked holiday for the next four days so I'm glad that you two are back here for it" She smiled happy to just have her babies back with her again after so long.
The past four years were a bit messy and confusing for Aurora. She felt like so much was going on under her nose with her children but neither bothered to fill her in - but they probably didn't because they never knew where she stood with their father. They never knew whether she was so brainwashed by him that if they opened up to her she'd be as cold and heartless as he was or if she instead would tell him everything her kids didn't want him knowing.
In reality, Aurora didn't do either, she didn't talk to her husband anymore, not after a long time...It was more of a speak when spoken to relationship and that was only when they saw each other, which was a rare occurrence in their household. Aurora was 'too busy' at work, which was her doing to get out of the house and away from him and distract her from her disaster of a marriage and he was doing god knows what, or who...she wouldn't be surprised if he was cheating on her.
She didn't care, she just accepted it because she knew that for now she couldn't leave him, not until she had everything in place. She didn't want to go back to her parents, not with them being her husband's biggest haters and specifically telling her not to marry him in the first place and of course they were right.
"Mum, how's the hospital?" Stass asked, seeing her with a frown on her face - clearly in thought about something
"Busy, as usual but I love it...I love helping people" She mentioned, smiling
How can my mum be so amazing and yet she got stuck in a loveless marriage?
Breaking Theo away from his thoughts as he stared at his mother, he heard his phone ringing in his back pocket. Pulling it out, he found it to be Naomi calling him, immediately he answered, stepping out of the kitchen for privacy.
"You okay baby?" He asked as he didn't expect a call from her this soon
"Yeah...it's just um, no it's nothing I-I'm sorry for bothering your family time" she rambled on going to end the call
"Don't you dare end the call, tell me what's wrong, trust me you're not bothering me"
"I'm scared Theo" she sighed
"Scared of wh-oh..." he hummed realising that today was her first day as temporary team captain, "Okay baby I need you to just breathe, I need you to remember that you're not alone, I'm a phone call away, Ollie and Elijah are on the team and coach...Well Coach isn't always the nicest person but the moment you prove you know your shit he'll be supportive"
"Okay" she said still a bit unsure of herself, which Theo could almost picture her hugging herself right now as she said it
"Do you have your anklet on?" He asked
"Always, I never take it off" she smiled looking down at it
"Good girl, because today you're going to need it. Whenever you want me but don't want to call because you feel like you're bothering me, but you're not but I know how you get, just look down at it and remember not to doubt yourself, can you do that for me?"
"Yes" she sighed, realising that she wasn't just going to be doing this for the rest of the day, but the rest of the week without Theo with her
"Remember Naomi you know your stuff about football, it's not a test or an exam, it's merely you pointing out what needs to be fixed - think of it like your internship when Mariam told you to direct the photo shoot how you wanted it to go and it turned out better than what you would of done if you were trying to please everyone. You even said everyone in the room was happy with the shots"
"I know you and I know you can do this, I would never set you up for failure so go and do me proud and coach my team. Show the boys that you're my girl and that they wish they could have you"
"Okay" Naomi whispered
"Where are you now?"
"I'm sat at the pitch early so that I could draft out some stuff, but I'm also waiting for Aimee so that I can talk to her about what she walked in on and hopefully get her to forgive me"
"Alright I hope it goes well...Since I've already told you everyone's names and positions, I'll tell you the ones to watch out for"
"Okay so there's Jimmy Hughes who's a massive flirt and will try and charm you out of not doing anything as goal keeper. Harry Crawford, amazing forward but will try and leave training early to go and smoke, don't let him trick you. Finn Sinclair, one of the third years, he's benched because he failed his last module, he thinks he's all that and will try and sleep with you because one, you know about football and two, he thinks that'll get him off the bench, so just keep him on the bench far away from you and then there's a few other's..." Theo explained as he noticed Stass poking her head out of the kitchen checking on him, realising that he was on the phone so she should just take over the task of cooking dinner whilst he was busy for the time being
Naomi on the other end of the call simply smiled, noting all of this down knowing that Theo had prepared her for just about anything and she could do this, in reality she just needed that final bit of reassurance from him as well as just to hear his voice today.
She was missing him more than she thought she would've and it hadn't even been a full day.